Episode 18: Camp Bosworth

“It’s like I’m a country singer so I’m going to sing about Texas. It’s in my soul.”

Camp Bosworth is a Marfa-based artist who utilizes wood carving to create sculptures and paintings that reflect the world around him. Often carved and sometimes gilded in gold and silver, these pieces almost always utilize scale to create humor and interest. A native-Texan, Camp received his BFA in painting from the University of North Texas and worked in Dallas until relocating to Marfa in 2001. Camp has since become one of the de facto artists of record in the West Texas art mecca. The themes he explores range from drug cartels to boom boxes to the small-town-Texas Dairy Queen. He regularly exhibits his work throughout the Southwest, including the Webb Galleryin Waxahachie where I was recently able to sit down with Camp to discuss growing up in Texas, the influence of Claes Oldenburg, why it’s better to go big, how Marfa has evolved over the last twenty years, the oddities of interacting with busloads of tourists, giant gilded guns and steak finger baskets.